Bernie Sanders is starting to surge against Hillary Clinton at the exact right time

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) is surging in early-state polling
as the Democratic presidential primary approaches its final
stretch before Iowa and New Hampshire voters weigh in.

In
a poll out Tuesday, Sanders was even ahead of former
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton among likely Democratic
caucusgoers in Iowa.

The Quinnipiac University survey found Sanders with 49% support
to Clinton's 44% in Iowa.

That represented a turnaround for Sanders in Iowa, as the same
pollster found 51% for Clinton and 40% for Sanders there last
month.

"After three months of Secretary Hillary Clinton holding an
average 10-point lead among Iowa Democrats, the playing field has
changed," Quinnipiac assistant director Peter Brown said in a
statement.

"Sen. Sanders' surge seems based on the perception by Iowa
Democrats that he is a better fit for Iowans," Brown added. "They
see him, by solid double-digit margins, as more sharing their
values, more honest and trustworthy, and viewed more favorably
overall than is Secretary Clinton."

Other polls have shown Clinton ahead of Sanders in Iowa, but they
similarly found Sanders closing the gap there. A Public Policy
Polling survey
released Tuesday found Clinton leading Sanders 46% to 40%.
The pollster reported that it found Clinton ahead of Sanders 52%
to 34% there last month.

Meanwhile, Sanders is doing even better in New Hampshire, which
borders his home state of Vermont. A Monmouth University poll,
also released Tuesday, gave Sanders a 14-point lead over
Clinton among voters likely to participate in the New Hampshire
Democratic primary.

The New York Times
reported Tuesday that Clinton's advisers privately said they
thought Iowa was a single-digit race and had warned her
supporters against complacency. But her team also predicted that
Clinton would win on February 1, the date of the Iowa caucuses.
(The Sanders campaign has been focused on winning New Hampshire,
which votes February 9.)

The tone of the race has also recently been changing, with
Clinton and Sanders increasingly taking shots at each other on
the campaign trail. On Monday, for example, Sanders and Clinton
campaign chair John Podesta exchanged Twitter burns:

I'd prefer to stay with the campaign that won't dismantle Medicare, tear up Obamacare and start from scratch again. https://t.co/H2UnuE0D6q